The history of the property goes back to 1631, when Governor John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who served for nineteen years, secured a grant to the farm on which, within six or seven years, the original dormer-windowed Royall House was built. This was smaller than the present house, but it was later incorporated in the present stately mansion; one story was added, and the outer wall was moved a few feet. Thus it is really a house within a house. At the time of Governor Winthrop's ownership it was called the Ten-Hill Farmhouse, because ten hills could be seen from its windows. John Winthrop, Jr., sold the place to Mrs. Elizabeth Lidgett. Lieutenant Governor Usher married a Lidgett, and owned the estate until he lost it through business reverses. The name was not changed until 1732, when the house was bought by Isaac Royall, a planter from Antigua, in the Leeward Islands, a descendant of William Royall of Salem. He paid L10,350 for the estate, which then consisted of five hundred and four acres. It was he who enlarged the house. For five years the neighbors watched the transformation of the comfortable Ten-Hill Farmhouse to the great Royall House, with its enclosing wall, elm-bordered driveway, pleasing garden, summerhouse, great barn, and rambling slave-quarters. Two generations of Royalls entertained lavishly here. Among the guests were the most celebrated men of the time, as well as many who were not so well known, for all were welcome there. Many of these guests drove up the driveway to the paved courtyard in their own grand equipages. Some were brought in the four-horse Royall chariot. But those who came on foot were welcomed as heartily. Isaac Royall, II, was a Tory, and in 1775 he was compelled to abandon the property. Thereupon Colonel, later General, John Stark made it his headquarters. The regiment which he had himself raised, and whose wages he paid for a time from his own pocket, was encamped near by. From the Royall house these men and their intrepid leader went out to the Battle of Bunker Hill. Under the direction of Molly Stark the house maintained its reputation for hospitality, and she did her best to make the place the abode of patriotism. On the day when the British evacuated Boston she promised her husband to signal to him from the roof the movements of the enemy. Passing on with his soldiers to Dorchester Heights, he anxiously awaited the news sent to him by his faithful Molly.